Is the nation really dumbing down? Are exams really easier than they were in the good old days? Now`s the chance to find out, with this nostalgic collection of exam questions from the 1940s & 50s. The perfect book to contrast the schooling of yesteryear with modern-day practices & settle the age-old debate about which is best. Every generation can attempt questions on a number of subjects from English & arithmetic to general knowledge & composition, with hundreds of authentic exam questions from the 1940s & 50s Eleven-Plus papers
- as well as all the answers. Gorgeously packaged with a retro design, The Eleven-Plus Book is a fantastic, nostalgic look back for all those who experienced the daunting exam the first time round, & a great way for the younger generation to prove that they have the wits to outsmart their elders!
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Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan have written the definitive account of 9/11. The shockwaves of the September 11, 2001 attacks in America reverberate to this day. Though Osama Bin Laden has been killed, questions remain. What exactly happened? Could 9/11 have been prevented? How & why did so much acrimony & misinformation arise from the ashes of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon & a quiet field in Pennsylvania? & what has yet to be revealed? The Eleventh Day, written with access to thousands of recently released official documents, is updated for this edition
- & reports on a development which the former chairman of Congress` 9/11 probe describes as the `most important in years`.
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This is an eye witness account of one of the darkest episodes of the late twentieth century, the era of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. From 1975 to 1979 ` Comrade` Duch was in charge of S 21, the security prison at the heart of Pnomh Penh where 12, 380 people were tortured & executed, having confessed to imaginary betrayals of the regime. After his film ”S21”, which brought survivors & executioners from the Khmer Rouge era together, Rithy Panh decided to film Duch in prison. During 300 hours of filming he confronts the man in charge of the campaign of extermination, tries to understand his personal history, his ideology, his methods. He talks to him about how he recruited his torturers, but also about his passion for numbers, for order. The process of confronting Duch every day, his cruelty, his evasions, his laugh draws Rithy Panh back to the past & the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era. Exhausted & despairing, he decides to tell his own story & that of his family. Against the evil of Duch he holds up the good embodied in the person of his own father, who believed in & fought for justice & education, & who perished in the Khmer Rouge genocide. ...

Back on the terrain of NW, The Embassy of Cambodia is another remarkable work of fiction from Zadie Smith. ` The fact is, if we followed the history of every little country in the world
- in its dramatic as well as its quiet times
- we would have no space left in which to live our own lives or apply ourselves to our necessary tasks, never mind indulge in occasional pleasures, like swimming...` First published this Spring in the New Yorker, The Embassy of Cambodia is a rare & brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals & escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning & ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith`s absorbing, moving & wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions. Praise for NW: ”A triumph.. .modern London is explored in a dazzling portrait.. .every sentence sings”. (Guardian). ” Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece. No better English novel will be published this year”. (Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph). ” Absolutely brilliant... So electrically authentic, it reads like surveillance transcripts”. (Lev Grossman, Time). Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. She is the author of the novels NW, White Teeth, The Autograph Man & On Beauty, & of a collection of essays, Changing My Mind. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People.

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This is the first thrilling book in the most exciting children`s fantasy series since Harry Potter. They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since. Ten years on, Kate, Michael & Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, & all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place
- & Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before. As they explore, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, & the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments & terrifying monsters. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls
- & stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

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At first ” The Emigrants” appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish emigres in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald`s precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to draw their stories, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile & loss. Written with a bone-dry sense of humour & a fascination with the oddness of existence ” The Emigrants” is highly original in its heady mix of fact, memory & fiction & photographs. ...

Emotions are sure to run high in this riotous family card game! Be the first to collect a full set of emotions but beware, the devious action cards may hamper your progress in this hilarious family card game! A game for 3-6 players, the aim of the game is all about collecting a complete set of five emoji cards in your h&. Use the action cards to swap emoji’s, pick on your opponents & attempt to win the hilarious all-play competitions! Contents: One deck of action cards (including four rules cards) & one deck of emoji cards. ...

If you think you`re good at coming up with imaginative emoji combinations, think again! The Emoji-to-English Dictionary challenges you to step up your game with more than 100 phrases that will have you ROFL. This unique guide gives you the lowdown on the most hilarious & unexpected emoji phrases around. Divided by topic, each chapter translates dozens of emoji combinations into plain ol` English, so that you can quickly incorporate them into your messages--and even brainstorm crazy one-liners of your own! Complete with illustrations of each emoji phrase, The Emoji-to-English Dictionary provides you with the tools you need to truly master the world of emojis. ...

Driven by money, power & success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He`s not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way. But the tumour has other ideas. As it grows, it appears to be doing strange things to Gabriel`s personality. Whether he likes it or not, he seems to be becoming less selfish, less mercenary, less unlikeable. Once he could dismiss the rest of humanity as irrelevant. Now he`s not so sure. Women, in particular, are becoming worryingly three-dimensional. & none more so than Caitlin, the `unremarkable` girl he sees busking on the steps of St Paul`s Cathedral. When she plays her violin, Gabriel could almost believe that he has a soul... But as each day that passes brings him closer to his last, has time run out for second chances? Bestselling author Gavin Extence pushes the envelope again with another thought-provoking & funny novel about the surprises, good & bad, that life can throw at us. ...

“ The Emperor” is a classic piece of reportage, beginning as it must after the fall of Haile Selassie in 1974, which ended the ancient rule of the Abyssinian monarchy; Ryszard Kapuscinski travelled to Ethiopia & sought out surviving courtiers to listen to their stories. Here, their eloquent & ironic voices depict the lavish, corrupt world they had known
- from the rituals, hierarchies & intrigues at court to the vagaries of a ruler who maintained absolute power over his impoverished people. Since his death in January of 2007, many critics have voiced their view that Kapuscinski may have invented, or modified some of his reportage for dramatic effect. Whether or not this is true we will never know, but what is obvious from this text is that his literary approach to his factual writing gave way to some startling insight & emotional impact that would have otherwise been lacking in a more conventional ‘straight’ journalistic approach. Dramatic & mesmerising, “ The Emperor” is one of the great works of reportage & a haunting epitaph on the last moments of a dying regime, a regime that seems to be the model for many an African leader since.
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